James Keith, Baron Keith of Avonholm

James Keith, Baron Keith of Avonholm PC QC (20 May 1886 – 29 June 1964) was a Scottish advocate and judge. He served as a Lord of Session from 1937 to 1953, and then as a Law Lord until 1961.
His grandfather and namesake, James Keith (17 April 1825 – 21 March 1901) and his father, Sir Henry Shanks Keith (26 Dec. 1852 – 9 July 1944) both served as Provosts of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland; his father also being appointed a Deputy Lieutenant and Honorary Sheriff of Lanarkshire. His family owned the large high-end grocery business, Keith's of Hamilton, operating from substantial premises on the town's Cadzow Street (the building remains.)
The young James Keith was brought up at Avonholm, Hamilton and attended the prestigious Hamilton Academy.

Key career dates and appointments

1911 admitted to the Faculty of Advocates

1926 invested as King's Counsel (KC)

1936–37 served as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates

1937–53 served as a Lord of Session

1937–53 served as Senator of the College of Justice (Scotland)

1953 appointed, Privy Counsellor (PC)

1953 created Baron Keith of Avonholm of St. Bernard's in the City of Edinburgh

1953–61 served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. Here he dissented in 22% of the cases which he heard – a larger percentage than that of his famously radical contemporary, Lord Denning.

Children

On the 7 July 1915 James Keith married Jean Maitland Bennett. The couple had three children –

• The Hon. Elizabeth Hamilton Keith
• The Hon. Helena Stewart Keith
• The Rt Hon. The Lord Keith of Kinkel (7 Feb. 1922 – 21 June 2002).

Lord Keith's son Henry was himself appointed Queen's Counsel (1963); Lord of Session (1971); Privy Counsellor (1976); created in 1977 Baron Keith of Kinkel, of Strathummel in the District of Perth and Kinross and holding the office of Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1977–96), and being invested as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (G.B.E.) in 1997.